2 Days Left in Kabale

So I'm almost done with my time here at Grace Children's Village. I will be sad to say goodbye to many people-even the ladies with whom I can only play charades to communicate. The hospitality of Ugandan people truly cannot be over-estimated. I have felt completely welcome here by so many people in the entire community. From the woman at the bakery who pulled me aside and led me to a different shop with better prices to the boys at the school who are trying to teach me some of the local language. My favourite word is 'motashake'. It means don't laugh at me and it makes the kids laugh hysterically

Today at work I was pretty tired (There is nothing that ruins a good night's sleep like hearing the buzzing of a mosquito around your head and being unable to find it.) I spent the day slowly taking wheelbarrow loads full of weeds and dumping them into a ditch. Because the school has grown so much, there are not enough classrooms and one of the nieghbours has kindly offered his property and house in exchange for some upkeep on the land and completing the roof on the building. He was currently in the process of building his house and has let the primary 1 level class move in instead.





This is what happens when you give your camera to a child





The one and only pool in town. Looks like paradise to me



After work, I took the advice of the site manager, Myanje and went up the street to dip my legs in the pool and have a drink. As soon as I sat down next to the pool and put my feet in, a young girl of about 5 years came right over and sat with me. She became my best buddy for the afternoon. She was very afriad of swimming but desperately wanted to try and there was no lifguard or swim instructor around, so I went in with my clothes on and held her hands as she played in the shallow end. I did convince her to hold her breath and put her head under a few times, so I'll consider that a successful lesson. Most Ugandans can't swim. There are drownings very frequently when a person filling a water jug falls in. A safe swimming program is definitely needed here. On the other hand, if I grew up in a country where most of the water was contaminated, had hippos or crocodiles in it, I probably wouldn't learn to swim either.

My swimming buddy